The Lock Up in Hunter Street Newcastle will receive $150,000 in annual funding for 2018 through the NSW Liberal National Government’s Arts and Cultural Development Program (ACDP) Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald MLC announced today.

The funding will support a diverse range of projects including;

justiceINjustice, a unique collaboration between artists and lawyers that explores injustice and marginalisation through high profile legal cases;

Argo Pacifico an exhibition that will transform The Lock-Up into a surreal, carnival cruise ship world;

Wiyalikan (One Who Speaks) a series of short storytelling performances that draw their content from the oral histories of the Aboriginal communities of Newcastle and the Hunter in partnership with Ngarrama Productions.

Mr MacDonald said he was pleased to see a continuing relationship between Create NSW and Newcastle Historic Reserve Trust to support the important artistic program offered by The Lock-Up.

“The Lock Up consistently delivers a diverse and engaging calendar of events for Newcastle, and is an important part of Newcastle’s cultural scene” Mr MacDonald said.

Jessi England, Director at The Lock-Up welcomed the continuing funding.

“The Lock-Up will be able to continue to present outstanding contemporary arts programming to Hunter audiences, and to support creative practitioners through the payment of fees, production costs and the full scope of professional infrastructure to enable their practice to been experienced by the public” Ms England said.